bye, 2024

I’m receiving 2024 retrospective emails from some of the newsletters that I subscribe to. Everyone’s got to get the look-back out before Tuesday night—I sent one out for We, The Citizens myself. It makes me feel like I should write something for myself to mark the end of the year, but now that I’m on this page I’m not very sure what there is to say.

This time last year I was feeling a little apprehensive about entering 2024. 2023 had closed with a lot of uncertainties, so I knew going in that 2024 wasn’t going to be an easy one. Now that I’m on the other side of it, I can say it was actually even tougher than I’d expected. And not just for me, but for almost everyone I know. It’s been brutal.

Taking stock of 2024, I must say that I’ve been very, very lucky, because I could be in a much worse place than I am now. I’ve been held by so many people, over and over again this year, when things got tough or when I got stuck in stressful predicaments. I have been encouraged, uplifted, comforted, fed, hosted, housed. There are still many things to worry about ahead, but I know it’ll turn out okay because of all the people I have around me. And I know that makes me so much more fortunate than so many others.

This end of year I haven’t heard anyone express the confidence, or even the hope, that 2025 is going to be a good year. It feels like everyone is exhausted and perhaps resigned to the high chance that 2025 is going to a horror show. I don’t know if it makes me feel better to know that we’re all stuck in the doo-doo together. I can only pray that it won’t be as bad as we all seem to be bracing ourselves for it to be.

What’s 99.9% certain is that next year is going to be a year of change and transition; a lot of work will have to be done and I’ll probably have to make some tough decisions too. More than ever before I’ve been thinking about my career as a journalist, my work as a writer, and the path that I want to (or can) walk down for the next phase of my life. I’m thinking about the things that I want to pick up and—perhaps more difficult but just as important—the things that I want to put down. There are big questions about identity, about purpose, about life goals and personal and family needs that I expect to face in 2025. It feels a little daunting, but I try to remind myself that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Who knows what I might discover on this tumultuous journey?

No one can promise a good 2025, but I hope that we’ll all find our way through whatever trials we might encounter. I hope you will have a fulfilling year—a year that might challenge you but also leave you a little stronger and clearer about what’s important than before.

~ vibes ~

One more song to add to the comfort playlist.